ACOEMETI, an order of Eastern monks who celebrated the divine service without intermission day or night (Gr. 6.KoLµnros, sleepless). This was done by dividing the communities into choirs, which relieved each other by turn in the church. Their first mon astery was established on the Euphrates in the beginning of the 5th century. In Constantinople (c. 46o) the famous monastery of the Studium, founded by the consular Studius, was put in the hands of the Acoemeti and became their chief house, so that they were sometimes called Studites.
the article in Smith and Cheetham, Dictionary of Christian Antiquities; Realencyklopadie (3rd ed.) ; also the general histories of the time.